Josh Marshall

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Josh

Some interesting Gallup polling data on American attitudes toward Pope Francis. Not surprisingly, conservatives view the Pope much less favorably than they did in February 2014. Approval has dropped from 72% to an anemic 45%. What stands out to me, though, is that positive attitudes toward the pope have also dropped among moderates and liberals. The drop isn't nearly as great. And both groups still view him positively overall. But across the board, Americans view him less favorably.

Here at TPM, we're making our first foray into the public opinion survey business. Our core audience is definitely Democrat-leaning. But t tends to be more center-left than left-left. That's a key demographic to look at for understand where the trends of national political discussions are moving.

So here are a few findings, each with at least 2000 qualified responses.

WaPo has a piece out today on a new Quinnipiac poll which shows Hillary is tied or losing to three top Republican challengers in three key swing states - Iowa, Colorado and Virginia. These numbers need context and caveats, of course. They're way, way out in advance of the election. They are, with the exception of Jeb Bush, against largely unknown candidates, Walker and Rubio. And perhaps as much as anything, they come on the heels of two major controversies, Benghazi! (tm) and the emails story, that have significantly knocked down her numbers on trust and honesty.

I see there's a new implosion over at Gawker over the fallout from the media exec/gay porn star piece that ran, ignited a massive controversy and was later withdrawn by the site. As you know, two top editors have resigned, with a nice meal in their bellies. And from what I can tell the entire operation is in an uproar now with the editorial staff at war with management over the decision to pull the piece.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gambled everything on his effort to derail President Obama's Iran diplomacy. He openly supported his 2012 general election opponent. He even accepted a secret invitation to speak before a joint session of Congress for the express purpose of trying to sabotage a signature element of the Head of State's foreign policy agenda. It's widely agreed across the political spectrum that at the level of top leadership, US-Israel relations are at their lowest point in decades, despite the fact that the security relationship has actually grown closer and more robust since 2009. The only debate is whether confronting the dangers of the Iran deal merited the risk to the relationship. So Netanyahu bet everything and he lost. With those facts, you might be thinking that for most politicians this would be a terrible setback or even the end of their career. But, as Asher Schechter explains here, nothing could be further from the case.